Yesterday, we celebrated our 5th anniversary @ The Ridge. It has been an amazing journey…the highest of highs and the lowest of lows…but all worth it!

It was great to have our entire church family together, kids and all! Great times of worship led by the best band in the area, some great reflections and a great time to look forward.

We ammended our mission statement a little. It is one that I believe we have implied but not necessarily clearly stated. It is the WHY behind the WHAT.

The Church @ The Ridge exists to…

“Impact Another Generation, For The Glory Of God, By Changing Perspectives.”

The WHAT we are supposed to do is “impact another generation” (see Deut. 6:4-7; Psalm 78:5-7)

the HOW is “by changing perspectives” We do this by doing what Jesus did. (Matthew 5) we do this by teaching God’s Word so as to change people’s perspective on the church, God, themselves and others.

but the WHY is in this added phase…it is something we sort of implied and assumed was understood. However, I felt like God wants us to implicitly state it..very clearly. The WHY of our mission is “for the glory of God.” It is WHY we do everything we do! There is no other reason…and there will be no other reason.

But what IS the glory of God? We talk about it. We even say “Give glory to God!” or “To God be the glory!” but we don’t have a clue what that means. Glory quite literally means weight or girth. “All glory is God’s.” He is weightier than anything. He has more girth, volume, size than anything else in this world.

Psalm 113:4 says The LORD is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens!

What is it in your life that has had more glory than God? What or who have you GIVEN more glory to? The glory of our lives…the glory of the church…is to be His and His alone! If it isn’t we are stealing glory from God. And I don’t want to have to stand before Him one day and answer for that.

I am grateful to all those who sacrificially gave, served, prayed for God’s will to be done in this church body. I pray that He will be glorified in me and in His Church @ The Ridge.

Here is a video that Jerry did for our 5th Anniversary that recaps a little of the last 5 years. To God be the glory!